Tag Archives: explore

So last week I finally made my vacation plans. However with some set backs once I arrived.

I decided to go for a couple days to Niagara Falls. Nearing spring, I was hoping to catch the thaw and a bit of the freeze while devoting my time to photography. I didn’t sink myself into the attractions but I took the time to just explore a new town.

Upon arriving, it was different. Only once in my life have I been greeted to a small downtown neighbourhood by intercity travel. I like how calm and quiet their downtown is in contrast to time. No suits, no rush hour; felt like a small town.

When I finally found a place to stay, it was incredibly different from the dark street lights. The accommodations I stayed was located near the casinos and the flashy rides and oddities. Being there felt like being in the US with every American chain sitting on every corner.

The next day after unpacking and settling in, I was greeted by fog. Most people who see rain and fog would avoid it. But I was a bit inspired and in awe on how much this blanketed the neighbourhood. I couldn’t see the tops of these tall casinos nor the falls when I began taking photos. Utmost eerie and surreal moment but I took advantage to look around. By midday, things cleared up a bit and decided to head up to the town proper. Checking out their Main Street and areas beyond what a tourist would venture. The farther I went out, it was a bit more humbling than the grandiose facade of the gambling cliff face. Things moved at a small town pace. It was kind of nice to watch people go about their day, living their lives. I did visit the local museum but forgot to make a stop at the war museum as well. However they did offer some exhibits that are educational. I later hiked the good 2 km back to the bus station. There, I took a few more shots with my camera. Watching the clouds roll in and out as the sunset was almost romantic. The stores were closing up as I made a small stop at a coffee and just sat back to watch the news. Of course, my town makes it in the news. Kind of reminding me the stay here was temporary. After hiking 4 km back, I decided to shift into a bit of night photography. I did bring my tripod in case I wanted to make some long exposure compositions. As I scrambled for my gear, I realized I left my tripod mounting bracket in my other camera bag. So what was going to be a long night turned into a night to just grab some food and catch up what I’ve missed in the past day.

The last day was absolutely sublime. I made another trek out to the Falls. I left my room while it was still foggy out but as I neared the river, the fog had absolutely clear. Perfect time to catch as many landscape photos as I can. I even got into the mood into shelling out money to get into a few places to snap a few shots. I spent the entire afternoon and morning forgetting to eat while I took every opportunity to take a photo. By the time I sat down to eat, my back was in a lot of pain from lugging my camera back around. Perhaps I should’ve taken some advice and gotten a backpack for my camera.

After eating a feast, I finally felt it. Sitting at a bar in a odd little town right in the middle of the hotels and casinos, I miss home. Being there was great but something gnawed at me to return. I brought everything I can for the week knowing I would stay for half. Now I wanted to head home.

Sitting on the train ridding back in the dark of night. Watching each town back until I come to mine, it felt oddly strange coming home. Felt like I spent a month, it wasn’t much of a vacation. At least the excursion has taken my away from my life just for a little while.

To be honest, that title sounds like a video game. But this one’s about putting theme to a new years. Last year because I had a few lousy, I wanted to just dominate 2013 with positivity. I did everything I could to enjoy the year and secure myself a future. So for 2014, I thought I could give you folks something to do for the entire year. I know new year resolutions are easily broken, but perhaps start with a small toss than a long throw?

1. Volunteer

Last year I began volunteering after half a decade without it. I have to admit, it’s a rewarding experience when you find a right place. Regardless, volunteering can be really handy. If employment is kind of a stretch for you like me, maybe give volunteering will help to bolster your resume. Not only that but you gain some professional experience if not personal experience. Who knows? Maybe find some skills you like working with you never expect you would like working. If you’re not in it for the experience, it’s a good opportunity to network; personally and professionally. Make friends with other volunteers and maybe they can hook you up with opportunities that you would not get as a nobody. If video games have taught me, NPC’s are nicer if you know them better and they give you more quests. Though you should focus more on making friends than coworkers since I think people like to have friends than coworkers.

2a. Collect ‘em all!

Might seem old school but maybe start a collection of items. Could be rocks, could be stamps, could be vintage items; just anything that catches your eye, just put it in that collection. Even without a theme, there’s always the “Stuff I Found Awesome 2014”. Whatever your kink is, collect it for 2014! If you’re into games like me, you can collect stuff too!

2b. Catch ‘em all!

Gamers, this is your year to collect what you want in your games. Whether it is an armour or weapon set, a slot full of items or just to reach the highest level; this is the year for all that. Focus on it and work on it; I know it’s a grind but at least you have a year to grind. For me, I’m definitely going to have a collection going on since I did start Blacklight: Retribution and it allows you to permanently unlock weapons, attachments and armour. So that’s going to be my game of the year. I’ll still be playing Star Trek Online but I’m pretty much at the end of the game. Collecting end game sets now are just to stay on top of the game rather than enjoying it. Perhaps this year, you can get into collecting something. It’s like kill collection quests, but it takes longer and you have an actual reward at the end.

3. Adventure

I think it’s a bit in out human nature to go beyond familiar shores to see something new; something different. You can do the same, even at home there are a lot you do. In a multicultural city, there’s always new food to discover and new places to visit. If you have been there and done that, maybe go outside your city and explore another. Visit somewhere you always wanted to go but never had a chance to travel; heck, make this year the excuse for escaping. Hawaii and the Caribbean’s always there, go somewhere you always wanted to because you want to try or do something there. The world is your ocean, set course to all the new things!

4. Steadfast Future

Perhaps your year ended well and you want to keep it up or it ended in a tragedy; there is nothing wrong to hold fast to what you have and build upon the progress you’ve made. Maybe you need some bridges burnt, burn them this year. You need mend old wounds? Sew them up this year. You want to start a new path in life? You are your own map and compass, just start walking. Simply put; if you have a bad year, fix it for this year. If you had a good year, keep it going for this year and see where it takes you. You would be surprised what you can accomplish without a specific goal.

Ever since Cryptic announced the release date to be November 13th (tomorrow). I’ve been grinding; not much and not hard either. About a few Elite STF’s per day considering what I saw on the Tribble server, I thought it was a good idea to get all my gear now while I still can.

Getting the final pieces of the Omega and MACO space sets was a bit easier than I expected. I managed to receive each piece once every 5 completed rounds with about 30 games played. Even with the distraction of a new Tuffli freighter in my arsenal (…make that two, I just bought one as I was typing this), I still finished it off with the Cure STF to get the engine bit of the 3 piece. I started with trying to get the MACO set since it was a good set to have on any ship and most of my ships need some shielding. That project finished within a week or so, I thought “hey, that was easy…” then moved on to the Omega just last week. There were people who “apparently” who took forever to get them, I still don’t understand how that is possible. Sure, at times I thought I won’t get them all but I kept chugging along and helping my team. Wait…are these people whining because they rode on their team to get their piece? Sounds like another rant for another time. Back to topic. Now, I’m done. Star Trek Online end game experience done! I have every piece of end game gear and the ship to prove it. A new season dawns, so that neck out of water will be very short lived. New Romulus awaits to be explored and new things to experience.

I’ve tried it out on Tribble with very small progress. First off people are excited about the gated content. I’m pretty borderline fed up with more gated content especially gating the Borg STF gear. Good thing, I’m already finished with that. No less, I’m going to enjoy finding that Borg queen in Into The Hive. Hopefully at least that would occupy a minimum of one hour so at least I can say “one episode of Star Trek”. As you may have seen in Season 6, not much content in terms of story progression. As for Season 7, they’re going with the whole “extra content” for us rather than actual attempt to entertain and make a story. At least the new social area of New Romulus will have a large space to enjoy grinding missions like hunting, collecting and pressing of many buttons. At least the ground area is large enough to feel like you’re exploring. Oh I almost forgot, the salt zombies! The supposed horde/zombie survival thing. Can’t wait, after gathering a lot of reputation points to get to a certain level to do the salt zombies. Until that happens, a lot of New Romulus roaming about and grinding the reputation system.